Very disappointing report by John Stossel and one has to wonder what was in it for him and ABC to create such a biased and ill informed report.

Bottom line once again this is an example of human greed exploiting our planet on creatures on it and it is unfortunate that a disney company would not see the simple truth here.

You might be asking why tigers would ever be farmed in the first place. Good question - and there's a simple answer:

Tiger farms exist to make money for wealthy businessmen who want to re-open the trade in tiger parts so that they can generate profits.

The businessmen who own tiger farms would like to fool us into thinking - as apparently they did Mr. Stossel - that tiger farming is the only way to save this doomed species.

Here's where their logic is dangerously off course:

1. Tiger farming actually encourages poaching. It's a simple case of economics:
   Cost to farm a tiger = $4,000 to $10,000
   Cost to kill a wild tiger = cost of a bullet
   Which option do you think many providers of tiger products would prefer? The cheaper one, of course. So they'll hunt and kill wild tigers, and then sell the tiger parts at the same market where farmed tiger parts would be sold. Why wouldn't they? It's easy to see how tiger farming actually contributes to poaching, and could ultimately lead to the extinction of this majestic and vital species.
2. Tigers raised on farms never develop the skills they need to survive in the wild. How could they learn to hunt in the wild when they are hand-fed and kept in cages on a farm? Plus, tigers on farms are in-bred and "speed-bred" - tiger farmers even separate the baby tigers from their mothers early so the mothers can breed again. Again, tigers on farms are bred for profit, not conservation.

 

But here's where the story ultimately and dangerously misleads: the simple solution to saving wild tigers is not tiger farming - it's the strengthening and enforcement of existing laws.

Although there has been a ban in tiger trade for over a decade, it is not being enforced strongly enough. As long as these factory tiger farms are allowed to flaunt the law, wild tigers will remain perilously close to extinction.

ABC get your facts Right

Ann in Houston.

My family watched the 20/20 episode about tiger farming in China, happy that America would finally learn of the atrocities being committed against this great cat by the ignorant Chinese government.  WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?  I have never heard such stupidity and ignorance as Stossel on tiger farming, and saving the tiger by letting anyone own one and to eat them!  In my 20-plus years of animal advocacy, this has to be one of the, if not THE  worst "newstory" by an American news reporter I have ever witnessed.

 I knew the ABC network had gone off the deep end because of their total and complete glorification of homosexuality, but this story about owning and eating tigers has just topped every offensive story ABC has ever broadcast!   Stossel and the heads of ABC network should be completely ashamed of yourselves.  You could have done a worthy job of explaining why people in America should not have tigers as pets; you could have explained how these backyard pets are tortured, having their claws ripped out, their teeth filed down, beaten when they are too big to be controlled, kept in tiny cages and not given proper nutrition and exercise. You could have said how the idiots in China and their emigres here in America believe that eating tiger parts makes the human male sexually potent, or gives them some other medical benefit.  You could have exposed how the people in our own country drag these poor animals around the country as props or amusement to earn the human money, while the animal languishes.  THAT would have been a story, instead you broadcast a completely ignorant episode that you probably did not research longer than 10 minutes.  Stossel is not a newsman, he is an ambulance chaser, a non-thinker who only wants to agitate the masses for his own goals.

You would sacrifice these great cats in order to broadcast an insane story to get everyones attentions!  All your children should get AIDS and die immediately.  How is that for a newstory?  Does that get your attention?  You have a network and a big mouth, but your stories are scraping the bottom of the port-o-potty.  You wanted attention, you will certainly get it from every animal lover and animal advocate that has heard this pathetic excuse for a broadcast story. I hope they bury you with negative publicity and force your show off the air.

Stossel needs to get an education in compassion and journalism, he lacks both.  ABC has just added one more reason that their network is toilet fodder not worth watching.  You scumbags at ABC are crawling around with the roaches, trying to find a purpose.  You have none, just die out, like the dinosaurs that you have become.

 

I totally agree with annietime.  Why would anyone promote such a terrible thing as tiger farming?   I never knew such a thing existed until now.   China is a country who has dog farms....and who  kill them in horrible ways...because they believe the more trauma to the dog...the better the meat!    This is just the worst suggestion ever...".if you want to protect endangered animals....eat them"  I can't believe he actually said that!!  GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!

"Ditto" to the first three posts in this series!  I am so very disappointed and saddened that John Stossel is the new Hiraldo Rivera and ABC News is the new Fox News (you know, that "fair and balanced" entertainment/propaganda network).  Disney too, has become a travesty - using puppy mill sick puppies in their movies until they die, then simply replacing them with more.  Shame, shame, shame!  Give ME a break!

I won't be watching 20/20 again, at least not until someone comes to their senses.  BTW John, when will your contract with Fox be finalized?

I am ashamed and disgusted on this comment.  I cannot believe someone like 20/20 would comment something so horrible.  We are trying to help extinction of these beautiful animals!  Shame on 20/20....VC